The most insidious danger presented to democracy by terrorism occurs when democracies self-harm in response, by trying to deliver themselves security by the deeply misguided means of tampering with their own civil liberties. They do it in order to make the job of the security services easier, by assuming greater powers for holding people in detention for longer, increasing surveillance of the whole population from its bank accounts to its library borrowing habits, limiting free speech, giving each individual a number plate (in the form of an ID card) so that he or she can be tracked and traced everywhere, and more. These harms to the fabric of a free society have longer effects, and in the long run worse effects, than terrorists' bombs. Yes, security is important, but not at the cost of doing the terrorists' work for them by damaging the fabric of our own society.

AC Grayling is professor of philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Terrorism itself can do little but terrify, but what we do with our fear can drastically weaken democracy. In recent years, too many abuses of democracy to count have occurred under the ironic guise of protecting our freedom. The Bush administration has manipulated the climate of intense anxiety that arose after 9/11/01 and used the "war on terror" as a justification for invading a sovereign nation, condoning torture, suspending due process of law for prisoners, and ignoring (or worsening) a host of other problems that the electorate prioritizes. Consequently, we have a democracy that is disturbingly damaged, but we also have an election coming up, and with it, the prospect of change.

Yes. Terrorism is destroying democracy in the US - not the terrorism of al-Qaida, which is minor, but the terrorism of a military-dominated administration in Washington. This terrorism has been going on for a very long time, but these days the neo-fascist impulses of Bush, Cheney and their gang, together with a supine Congress, have seen off the bill of rights and legalised torture and bloody foreign conquest, and caused the US to be feared and hated across the world. Millions of Americans may well be waking up to this; for only they can save their democracy, just as only ordinary Britons can save theirs.

John Pilger is an award-winning war correspondent, film-maker and author.

In the six years since the destruction of the twin towers in New York, the very real threat of jihadism has caused a mammoth increase in police and government surveillance worldwide. It is difficult to imagine how this process will ever be reversed or undone. Alas, most citizens, faced with the imminent destruction of their way of life, will gladly exchange freedom for safety. Hence terrorism, which ferrets out the weaknesses in our fantastically complex and interconnected economies, does indeed challenge the future of democracy.

Camille Paglia is professor of humanities and media studies at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

This is a propagandistic question, which implies, we, the west, are democratic and other people are the terrorists. The reality is that the state terrorism of the US government, aided and abetted by the British government, is the most powerful terrorism there is. Think of the things the US has done in Iraq, which is a war crime on a massive scale, as well as Nicaragua, Chile and many others. Think of the terrorism of the British government in the acquisition and disposition of our empire.

It turns out, looking at the historical record, that a great many things can destroy democracy - and quite easily, once certain pressures are brought to bear. Terrorism can't destroy a strong democracy - look at the United Kingdom, with its years of attacks from the IRA. But once democracy begins to weaken, a terror attack - or a flood, or a mass protest that results in a "threat to public order" - can all be used as excuses to crack down on civil society and make martial law easier - as provided for recently, I am sorry to say, in the US by the 2007 Defence Authorisation Act.

Naomi Wolf is an author and co-founder of the American Freedom Campaign.

Terrorism destroying democracy. What democracy? My memory only recalls a short while back a moment in history where a nation bigger than most was scandalised, robbed and lied to. Afterwards all accountability was lost, in a complacent helpless country medicated by the sweet syrup of cable television and air conditioning. An IV drip, for all Americans, to soothe those burns and band aid any sores caused by corporate corruption, consumer society, and stolen elections.

In my adult life I have participated in two elections. Bush was of course a candidate in both, seeing as I am only 26. I was denied the right to the truth about the elections by allegedly the most democratic country on the face of the earth: one that wages wars based on a mythological governing system, one that occupies countries for people whose opinion they have never asked.

As I have only known this kind of government the only thing I can really say is: I have never seen democracy. I have heard about it under the red white and blue hard covers of American history books in elementary school. I have seen the word written on banners between the talons of a bald eagle, below photos of white powder wigs on the heads of slave owning white men with wooden teeth, and my conclusion is that is what democracy has been my whole life.

Beth Ditto is lead singer of The Gossip and a G2 columnist.

Dozens of writers are tackling our 10 big questions about democracy. Read more from Why Democracy? here. And, from Sunday, read the Observer's special selection of responses here.